Final plea to halt Palestinian statehood bid

New York

BOTH Britain and the United States made a last-minute plea to the Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, to call off the United Nations vote to recognise a state of Palestine, scheduled for Thursday (Friday morning ADST).

Deputy Secretary of State Bill Burns and US Middle East peace envoy, David Hale, met Mr Abbas in New York on Wednesday, but there was no indication at UN headquarters that the special assembly meeting would be postponed.

''We've been clear. We've been consistent with the Palestinians that we oppose the observer state status in the General Assembly and this resolution,'' the State Department spokeswoman, Victoria Nuland, said.

With Western support swelling in favour of the Palestinian bid, Israel went into damage control on Wednesday. Israeli officials began to play down the significance of the draft resolution, which calls for the upgrading of the Palestinian status from observer to non-member observer state. Israel has toned down threats of counter-measures after the vote in the General Assembly.

"The United Nations General Assembly will pass a one-sided anti-Israel resolution that should come as a surprise to nobody, and certainly not to anyone in Israel," said Mark Regev, the Israeli government spokesman. ''We always said that the reality was that the Palestinians have an automatic majority in the General Assembly.''

Mr Regev admitted ''disappointment" over the decision of friendly European countries to support the Palestinians or abstain from the vote.

France announced on Tuesday that it would support the Palestinian bid. Other European nations, including Switzerland, Denmark and Norway, have followed. But in Berlin, a government spokesman said Germany would vote against.

Britain said it would consider voting for the resolution if the Palestinians agreed not to pursue Israel for war crimes in the International Criminal Court. But on Wednesday it seemed unlikely those and other assurances would be forthcoming, meaning Britain would abstain. DPA, NEW YORK TIMES, TELEGRAPH